Purpose-Driven SEO
A Modern SEO Strategy That Any Brand Can Deploy

If you run any sort of website, you probably think about traffic a lot. Search traffic is valuable. In fact, organic traffic is gold. But, there’s so many new SEO strategies floating around out there.

SEO is hard and advice online is confusing, contradictory, and overwhelming. When people come to us for SEO advice, we can see that look on their face. It’s the same look we have when we’re in the paint store – too many options. Like, which tactics should I try?

Nowadays, we’re optimizing for Google’s AI search engine which is different from back when they were a rules-based search engine. Now, we need to focus on the right content and link building. This combination is what we like to call authority building. Building website authority through engaging, valuable content and high-quality backlinks is the key to SEO.

This is exactly why Fire&Spark President, Dale Bertrand, created Authority First SEO™, a revolutionary approach to ranking organically. To understand the power of Authority First SEO™, take this example from one of our former clients:

Fire Department Coffee started gaining momentum online after customers, like-minded organizations, and bloggers took note of the brand’s mission and unique story. By leveraging these qualities, Fire&Spark helped them to boost organic traffic 2.4x in less than a year! Click here to read the full case study.

Authority Building

Nowadays, it’s extremely important to build a website (and content) that resonates with online consumers. Signals like click-through-rates in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and engagement demonstrate to Google that your website is trustworthy – and should be ranked highly.

The most effective way to generate these signals is by building website authority. Examples include generating high-quality backlinks, positive mentions and reviews, and partnerships with other like-minded organizations and individuals.

Fill out this form to meet with one of our SEO specialists, free of charge. We’d love to help you get started with authority building today!

Authority First SEO™

There are three main strategies that fall under Authority First SEO™. The best approach for your company may be to focus on only one of them, or to use a combination of the three.

1. Mission-Driven SEO

   This strategy leverages the mission behind your brand. This could be a social mission, but it doesn’t have to be. Some brands have a mission to improve their industry.

   Regardless, the mission must be genuine and align with your company values in order to be effective. If it’s not something that you actually care about, customers and partners will be able to tell.

2. Product-Driven SEO

   This approach is all about promoting what makes your product or service unique and valuable. You may want to promote the craftsmanship behind your products or how they are more sustainable than your competitors’.

   One example is when we worked with a company that was producing wool blankets sourced from an organic farm in the UK. The company loved to talk about their product and educate customers on where the wool is from and why they produce it organically.

3. Story-Driven SEO

   This strategy focuses on highlighting your unique brand story. Storytelling can help display a more human side of the brand.

   Fire Dept. Coffee, for example, resonated with other veteran-owned brands by sharing its founder’s backstory. Click here to watch our Fireside Chat with FDC’s Chief Marketing Officer.

How to Get Started

1. Do just enough technical SEO to make sure that Google can see your pages – It is important to make sure that your website isn’t so broken that Google can’t crawl it or index it. If you have any major issues, Google won’t want to rank your site.

2. Ensure keyword visibility – It’s important to make sure you have the right keywords on pages across your website. This will take a bit of research, but the biggest misconception is that “search volume” should be your only consideration – it shouldn’t be. When selecting keywords, also consider the intent your customers have when searching for specific queries.

   For example, if you sell 3D printers and hope to rank for a keyword like “3D printer near me”, consider what searchers are actually looking for when they type this specific query. Are they looking to buy a 3D printer from a local seller or are they looking to 3D print something nearby?

   Your content should align with whatever you believe the search intent behind the keyword is. Click here to read more about search intent.

3. Focus on authority building – You need content that can demonstrate the signals that Google is looking for: engagement, trust, and expertise. Here’s how to get started:

   • Find partners – You’ll want to partner with like-minded individuals and organizations to generate high-quality backlinks. You can even collaborate on content or events!
   • Align your values – Make sure your values and purpose align with those of your partners. This ensures a genuine, beneficial relationship for both parties.
   • Create citable content – Citable content, as we like to call it, is content all around your brand mission, products, or story. If your partners also support your purpose, they may give you a free backlink! This tells Google that your site is trustworthy.

View email templates, tools we use, case studies, and more in our Authority First SEO™ Strategies Resource Guide. Download it here.

SEO Content Strategy

When building content for SEO, there are two types of content that we create. This combination is what we like to call the Complementary Authority Strategy:

1. Keyword-targeted content

   Efficient content helps you avoid having to write a new article every time you want to target new keywords. We’ve found success building content like FAQs – or, if it’s an ecommerce site – collection pages (which only need a couple sentences to rank).

2. Authority-building content

   This is what we’re using to build backlinks. It’s less focused on keywords and more focused on highlighting your purpose which might be your brand mission, unique products, or story. No matter which Authority First SEO™ strategy you use, it must resonate with your audience online in order to drive organic traffic, conversions, and revenue.

Citable Content

Citable content is one of the best ways to rank on Google, reach new audiences, and acquire customers. Once you’ve determined which Authority First SEO™ strategy fits your business and discovered which organizations also support your purpose, it’s time to create the content these like-minded individuals will cite.

This content should not only promote your brand purpose, but also be able to advance your partners’ causes, too. Since the goal is for them to link to your site and promote your purpose for you, it must clearly and authentically align with theirs as well. Here are some examples:

• Interviews – For example, we worked with a company whose mission was to help refugees get jobs. We crafted a mission-driven SEO campaign around interviewing these refugees so that we could highlight their individual stories and experiences. Many sites who created similar types of content were moved by this company’s mission and linked to the interviews as a result.
• Position/Policy – If your company is all about advocating for something specific to your industry, others who agree with you will likely want to promote this content as well!
• Proprietary data
• Surveys
• Opinion
• Campaign

Key Takeaways

1. Google’s AI is looking for brands that are gaining momentum.
2. Brands that resonate with online consumers crush SEO
3. Pursue a minimum viable technical and on-page SEO strategy
4. Focus on authority building and content to significantly grow organic traffic